The Federal Communications Commission voted today to regulate Internet access more like a public utility, the vote split 3-2 along party lines. As NPR's Joel Rose reports, the vote reflects deep divisions over the future of the Internet.

Have you ever fallen in love with a sandwich? Maybe one where the mix of ingredients might otherwise say, "No, I am so wrong for you!" And yet ... it's delicious.

That once happened to chef Marcus Samuelsson in Barbados. He has a ritual whenever he travels to a new place — ask the cabdriver, "Where do you eat?" On that trip he ended up at a tiny fish shack called Cuz, named after its owner.

Officials in Saudi Arabia estimate that more than 2,000 young men have joined up with the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.

The Saudi Special Operations Forces, under the Ministry of the Interior, have begun large-scale exercises to protect the border between that country and Iraq, to the north. Officials also worry about Saudis returning home after fighting with ISIS and carrying out attacks.

The artist, who uses public spaces for his often-provocative murals, posted images that he said were of art he created in the Gaza Strip, along with a two-minute video of life in the Palestinian territory, titled "Make this the year YOU discover a new destination."

The Two-Way

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Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi man who the U.S. says was Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant in Britain, has been convicted on all four conspiracy charges tied to the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The AP reports that Al-Fawwaz's trial started a month ago in a fortified courthouse in New York. The trial focused on al-Qaida's early days. The AP adds:

"Al-Fawwaz stood expressionless as the verdict was read, pursing his lips briefly. He could face life in prison.

At the center of this debate are communities like Wilson, North Carolina. The city, about 50 miles east of Raleigh, built its own broadband network before the state legislature prohibited cities from competing with private broadband providers.

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Saul Trana stands in the check-out line as he shops at a Walmart store on February 19, 2015 in Miami, Florida. The Walmart company announced Thursday that it will raise the wages of its store employees to $10 per hour by next February, bringing pay hikes to an estimated 500,000 workers. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Labor Department today reported that the Consumer Price Index, which measures how much Americans pay for various goods and services, fell in January from a year earlier, the first annual drop in five years. This comes as the economy is improving and wages are slowly growing. NPR’s Marilyn Geewax joins Here & Now’s to explain what’s happening.

Two Tennessee high school girls basketball teams made news this week after playing so badly as to tip off the referee and the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association that they were playing to lose. Here & Now sports analyst Mike Pesca joins host Meghna Chakrabarti with details.

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Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) holds his weekly news conference at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center February 26, 2015 in Washington, D.C. With less than two days to go before the Department of Homeland Security shutdown, Boehner said that it is still up to the Senate to pass legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security, adding 'We passed a bill to fund the department six weeks ago. Six weeks ago.' (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Department of Homeland Security could run out of money by this Friday, Feb. 27, if the House and the Senate don’t vote for a funding extension before then.

The Senate has made noises like it has reached a deal; Democrats say they’ll vote for a Republican plan to vote separately on the Homeland Security funding and the president’s executive actions on immigration.

The Republican-controlled House has already passed a bill tying the two together. So will the House compromise and vote on a bill that matches up with the Senate?

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Thu February 26, 2015

Dian Alarcon, originally from Colombia, stands with others during a press conference to protest the district court judge in Brownsville, Texas, who issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the implementation process of President Barack Obama's Executive Action on immigration on February 17, 2015 in Miami, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

With funding for the Department of Homeland Security set to run out on Friday, President Obama was in South Florida yesterday for a televised town hall-style meeting on immigration reform.

Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti talks to Enrique Acevedo, anchor and correspondent at Univision, about the issue that’s at the heart over this fight over funding DHS: the president’s executive actions on immigration. Acevedo also discusses how all of this is playing out among Latinos.

All across Pakistan, cellphone users are lining up to get fingerprinted. The government has ordered cellphone companies to collect the biometric data for every SIM card — and it says it will cut off service for any phone not registered.

Tim Craig, the Islamabad bureau chief for The Washington Post, tells Here & Now’s Robin Young that the new program is a response to recent brutal terrorist attacks that have used cell phones.

NPR Story

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Thu February 26, 2015

Peter Bloom of Rhizomatica meets with the authorities in Tlahuitoltepec Mixe, Oaxaca. Rhizomatica is a non-profit group in Oaxaca city that has helped 16 remote villages install and operate their own cell phone networks. (rhizomatica.org)

Cellphones are just about everywhere these days. But in remote, rural places the key ingredient – a cell network – is often missing. In the U.S., long-distance users pay a surcharge into the Universal Service Fund, which the government uses to pay network operators to provide affordable phone access in rural or low-income areas.

NPR Story

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Thu February 26, 2015

‘Tis the season to speculate who’s going to run for president, who will make it through the primary, who will ultimately end up in Oval Office.

But before you slap a bumper sticker on your car, or hang a political cartoon at work, you might want to think twice. Because it turns out that either of those could get you fired. And in most states in the country, labor laws will not protect you.

While federal law bars employers from firing workers for race, religion or gender, there is no protection for freedom of political speech or action.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, usually attracts the country’s most die-hard conservative activists. This year it’s also attracting nearly a dozen – depending on how you count – Republican presidential hopefuls for 2016.

NPR’s Don Gonyea is there and joins Here & Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti to talk about who’s at CPAC to show off their stuff, and how they might try to win hearts and minds.

Thu February 26, 2015

When journalist Bill Gifford turned 40, his friends gave him a cake shaped as a tombstone with the words, "R.I.P, My Youth." As he reflected on his creeping memory lapses and the weight he'd gained, Gifford got interested in the timeless quest to turn back the aging clock — or at least slow it down.

His latest book, Spring Chicken, explores everything from some wacky pseudo-cures for aging to fascinating research that point to causes of aging at the cellular level.

The Alaskan tundra might not seem like much of an agricultural hotspot, but one farmer in the frigid town of Bethel believes he's found America's newest breadbasket.

For the last 10 years, Tim Meyers has been coaxing an enviable quantity of fruits and veggies from just four acres of land. Last year, he produced 50,000 pounds of potatoes, beets, carrots and other vegetables. He sells it at his year-round biweekly market and to local grocery stores.

The Two-Way

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Thu February 26, 2015

Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 28. The panel voted Thursday to send her nomination to be U.S. attorney general to the full Senate.

Loretta Lynch, President Obama's nominee for attorney general, cleared a major hurdle Thursday to succeed Eric Holder as the country's top law enforcement officer. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-8 to send the nomination to the full chamber, which is expected to confirm her nomination.

Three Republicans joined the panel's Democrats to vote "yes." Those opposed to her nomination cited President Obama's executive actions on immigration.

"We should not confirm someone to that position who intends to continue that unlawful policy," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

SDSS J0100+2802 is the rather understated name scientists have given to an exceptionally luminous, newly discovered quasar. It's 12.8 billion light years away and shines as brightly as 420 million suns. At its center, there's a super-sized black hole — as massive as 12 billion suns — that formed some 900 million years after the Big Bang.

The Two-Way

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Thu February 26, 2015

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed allegations by prosecutors that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, seen here Feb. 11, tried to cover up the alleged involvement of Iranian officials in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires.

Last month, an Argentine prosecutor who was due to testify about an alleged cover-up in the investigation into the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires was found dead.

Alberto Nisman had accused President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's government of covering up Iran's alleged role in the bombing that killed 85 people to push through a grains-for-oil deal with Tehran. After Nisman's death, the investigation was continued by prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita.

The Two-Way

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Thu February 26, 2015

Boys in Uppsala, Sweden, read supportive messages placed at the entrance of a mosque following an attack in January. A new Pew study finds that religious intolerance is a global problem, with Muslims facing more hostility from individuals, and Christians from governments. Targeting of Jews, the study found, has gotten worse over in recent years.

This week, a man was sentenced to die in Saudi Arabia because he renounced his faith in Islam; a Hindu leader in India made a new accusation against Mother Teresa; a mosque near Bethlehem was set on fire.

This week's Conservative Political Action Conference has drawn a huge crowd of activists and politicos, per usual — but it's also a prime spot for 2016 presidential hopefuls. The GOP's potential candidates — former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. Bobby Jindal — are rolling on and off the main stage, hoping to fire up the conservative audience. And how well they do with this crowd — an important part of their base — may say a lot about 2016. Here are five things I'll be watching for at CPAC: